Curse template: spirit-touched

If you subscribe to the monthly newsletter I hawk over on substack you will have already seen the changes I've made to character generation in PARIAH, as well as the implied modifications to the player facing mechanics. Feel free to peruse the PDF here if you haven't yet seen it. I'll caveat this with the following statement: don’t distribute it for commercial gain or claim it as your own work. It’s a WIP and hasn’t been fully tested yet, new PARIAH campaign should kick off Friday 20th September.

While this probably merits its own post for the time being I'd like to focus on the changes to curse templates, in particular looking at spirit-touched.

Curse Templates

In PARIAH, powerful curses are represented by curse templates. Inspired by Emmy Allen’s sideways advancement trackers (particularly wendigo sickness and the wounded daughter) templates provide the opportunity to inflict a doom on a pariah over an extended period rather than removing them from the game immediately—providing the opportunity to remove the curse, or at least having some fun in the attempt. 

PARIAH Volume 1, page 53

Each template enumerates a series of afflictions (which can be beneficial, baleful or both) in a table: conditions particular to each curse trigger a roll on this table. these afflictions may make it harder to resist triggers in the future, thus causing a kind of curse-death spiral: once all entries on the table are acquired, the pariah becomes an NPC/monster.

Some examples on this blog include ghouls, werewolves and sleepflower-eaters, all of which I will update sooner or later in line with the structure of what follows...

Spirit-touched

The curse of the spirit-touched worked a little differently to other curses. In PARIAH Volume 1 it emerged as consequence of character creation: if a character's mental attributes (INT, WIS and CHA) totalled less than 20, they gained the ability to ghost-walk (originally described as "astral projection"). I've since removed attributes (physical and mental). This is how it works now.

Receiving the Curse: touched-by-spirits

Any pariah receives the curse if they

• roll  3 flaws without receiving any qualities OR
• They experience a harrowing, near death experience OR
• are a 1d4 SD ("frail") pariah and select this as a quality 

One inventory slot is permanently lost: write-down SPIRIT-TOUCHED in its place.

The spirit-touched is an individual who has suffered great trauma prior to their exile, perhaps in early childhood, resulting in a somewhat tenuous relationship with the Here & Now. They sit a little closer to the Realm of the Dead (aka The Thereafter) and while this makes them vulnerable it also grants unique abilities—afflictions. Receive the first affliction by rolling below, descriptions follow.

Afflictions

1. Ghost walk
   
2. Heks
3. Invisible hand
4. Mask
5. Premonition
6. Psyche
7. Second sight
8. See spirits
9. Spirit-talk
10. Trance

Whenever a spirit-touched pariah survives being reduced to 0 HP, they gain a new affliction. Roll 1d10 to determine: if the pariah already has this affliction, it improves or changes in some way.

Afflictions reduce a pariah's ability to carry burden, physical or otherwise: they each take up an inventory slot. Write the affliction down in that slot. When a spirit-touched pariah's afflictions mean they can carry nothing, they became a spirit of the dead (see below)

Ghost walk

The spirit-touched may leave their body behind and walk the threshold of The Thereafter. They can see and hear, but otherwise are unable to interact with the Here & Now. Their spirit is invisible except to other spirits.    

Roll one or more spirit dice: the total indicates the number of turns the pariah may ghost walk. Dice showing 3 or less are retained in the spirit dice pool.

While ghost walking a pariah may attempt to take possession of another body: they succeed if the target fails a Save vs Death. However, while ghost walking the parish’s body is vulnerable to possession by rogue spirits (no save). also come under the influence 

Heks

By focussing their attention on an individual, the pariah can cause them to fail a risky action that round. This could be defending against a melee attack, evading a spell or something trivial like pouring out a cup of hot wine. The pariah may not perform other actions while heksing someone.

Invisible hand

The pariah extends their grasp beyond their ordinary reach, merely by concentrating. The invisible hand is as strong as the parish’s favoured hand, but can reach up to ten feet away. It can only be seen by denizens of the realm of the dead or those on the threshold of that realm.

Mask

Through willpower alone, the pariah causes their own face to appear subtly different, so that they appear completely unrecognisable to someone not overly familiar with them. Those more familiar are permitted a Save vs Dawn to see through the illusion. It lasts only for a turn, and may not be used against any one individual or group more than once a day.

Premonition

Once a lunar month, at a randomly determined point, the pariah has a premonition of where their future actions will take them. This is represented outside the fiction as a “save point”: if at any point before the next full moon the party are disappointed with the outcome of their actions, they may ”rewind” to any other time after the “save point” and try to change their fate.

Psyche

The pariah gains a new save: "psyche". Initially this has the same value as the pariah's death save. When asked to make any save, the pariah may instead use their psyche save—including when making saves in other realms.

Second sight

The pariah may see through the eyes of another living being within 120', whether willing or not. They target makes a save vs Moon Realm: success doe snot prevent the pariah from using second sight, but makes the target aware of the pariah's actions and current location. This ability continues for a s long as the pariah concentrates and the target remains within range.

See spirits

Spirits ordinarily invisible to humans are always visible to the pariah, as though they were permanently on the threshold of all other realms.

Spirit-talk

The pariah has the ability to speak with spirits, including making speculative inquiries to spirits who may be present. Others can't hear the voices, but the pariah can.

Trance

After spending a turn in deep mediation the spirit-touched alters their sensory perception to experience realms other than the Here & Now. This is equivalent to taking a heroic dose of whatever entheogen grants access to the realm they wish to explore.

Spirits of the Dead

When a spirit-touched is no longer able to carry anything, their tenuous hold on their body is permanently severed and they are trapped between the Here & Now and The Thereafter as a disembodied Spirit of the Dead. This would usually lead to character being retirement as an NPC, but in any case the original body is no longer a viable vessel for the soul it once encased.

Roll 1d6:

1. The spirit-touched's body goes limp and cold, and follows the normal rate of decomposition.
2. The spirit-touched's body begins to fad, decreasing in opacity and losing solidity until only the pariah's clothing and personal items remain.
3. The spine arches, the eyes open wide. The mouth opens a little as the head tilts back before unleashing a hideous, rasping cry as the pariah's soul escapes in a death-rattle like no other. The flesh than begins to immediately putrefy, reducing everything to a poisonous, steaming black ichor in a matter of minutes.
4. The spirit-touched's body radiates a warm, golden light as any wounds it received in life are magically healed. Malevolent entities flee. The spirit-touched's soul is visible briefly as a beatific figure of gold lingering at the corpse before striding away confidently. The body remains warm for several days, and is magically immune to natural decomposition (though not to ordinary wear-and-tear).
5. An uncomfortable sensation overwhelms all within a 30' radius as the spirit-touched's body rapidly desiccates, leaving a beautifully mummified corpse.
6. Nothing appears to happen to the body, until slowly it is apparent wounds and injuries are rapidly healing themselves. Breath returns to the body at the conclusion of this process, leaving a sleeping Nameless One behind. Generate a new character with the same appearance as the last, but distinct in all other ways and with none of their memories.

With thanks and acknowledgement to Fiona Maeve Geist for the coining of the phrase spirit-touched (in reference to this specific context).

Links

Mailing list
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.substack.com/

PDF preview PARIAH chargen
https://drive.google.com/file/d/14azhTAMFekjSkVXrFkGYUU27Xbzk8nVG/view?usp=sharing

Cavegirl's Wendigo Sickness
https://cavegirlgames.blogspot.com/2018/07/wendigo-sickness.html

Cavegirl's Wounded Daughter(s)
https://cavegirlgames.blogspot.com/2019/08/wounded-daughters.html

PARIAH ghouls
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2020/04/ghouls.html

PARIAH Werewolves & sleepflower addicts
https://aloneinthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/2021/02/2-curse-templates-doom-of-sleep-flower.html